Oh NO! What have I gotten myself into now...

Well I up and did it. Yup. Just like my wife predicted. The madness grew larger this week with the purchase of some 15" gauge steam locomotives, rolling stock, rail and other pieces. I started hauling it on Monday and by Wednesday had most of the collection here. Some of the pieces were located about 7 miles up the road at a private retreat center. The rest came from Campbell. So just what did I get? See for yourselves...


A 3" scale 15" gauge 3 truck Shay.



Trailer loads of stuff...


Here is my assistant Edgar helping me load up over 4000 feet of rail and switches.


Trucks and wheel sets.

Anyhow after getting the shay in the shop (no easy task due to its weight) I began the process of stripping it down for further inspection and to begin its process of restoration back to operation. I will give a history of this locomotive soon and you will be able to follow the progress here on the blog.



This coming week I have one more steam locomotive to move (a Crown 4-4-0) along with some other misc. stuff. I will post pictures on those soon. Hey just remember my motto, "Its all FOR SALE!"

More from Hackfest '08

Mojave Mike sent this link over with some of his edited footage from our MEG Steamer Hackfest Double-header at the Bitter Creek & Western Narrow Gauge Meet. Also I have included the lost footage that Mike missed out on when his camera battery went dead. Enjoy!

Boyz will be boyz...

Well, that time of year is getting close, so thought I would be the first to wish you all the best for the holiday season! Sit back and have a good laugh...
Grumps


Boyz will be Boyz
starring
Grumps, Phil, Karl, Oilcan & Cookie

To check out another one of these shorts featuring the PCRR gang, go here

Don't mess with Grumps...

So I am not big on this Halloween thing, but here is a scary story for those of you who are...

A man is walking home alone late one foggy night...

when behind him he hears:


Bump...




BUMP...




BUMP...





Walking faster, he looks back and through the fog he makes out the image of an upright casket banging its way down the middle of the street toward him.




BUMP...





BUMP...





BUMP...






Terrified, the man begins to run toward his home, the casket bouncing quickly behind him





FASTER...





FASTER...






BUMP...







BUMP...




BUMP...





He runs up to his door, fumbles with his keys, opens the door, rushes in, slams and locks the door behind him.








However, the casket crashes through his door, with the lid of the casket clapping










clappity-BUMP...




clappity-BUMP...






clappity-BUMP...





on his heels, the terrified man runs.





Rushing upstairs to the bathroom, the man locks himself in. His heart is pounding; his head is reeling; his breath is coming in sobbing gasps..


With a loud CRASH the casket breaks down the door.









Bumping and clapping toward him.





The man screams and reaches for something, anything, but all he can find is a bottle of cough syrup!









Desperate, he throws the cough syrup at the casket...
















and,

















(hopefully you're ready for this!!!)





The coffin stops

Marking Up at the Hillcrest & Wahtoke

One of my favorite scale railroads has to be the Hillcrest & Wahtoke located in Reedley, CA. Before I moved to the coast, I lived on a farm near the Hillcrest and when I heard they were putting in a steam train, well you couldn't keep me away from that. I only had a couple of opportunities to go there before I moved, but have stayed in touch with Sean and the gang over the years.

This year, I qualified and am now an engineer for the line, running some of the most gorgeous 5" scale 15" gauge locomotives anywhere. October is the start of the Pumpkin Patch at Hillcrest Farms and to kick it off, they host the Reedley Railfest. I arrived on Tuesday the 7th and proceeded to help out where ever needed. On Thursday the 9th, we had media day and the local NBC affiliate was there to do a live feed for the morning show and to tape for a promo that played throughout the weekend.
KSEE 24 News Reedley Railfest

Here I am with PCRR Zen Master Phil Reader as we are in a reverse move to make up the long train before dinner. On the front were the NPC #12 from CSRM & Glenwood #5. Cut in the middle was Redwood Valley #11 and I brought up the rear with Glenwood #13.





A section of three foot gauge track is in place and also visiting from the CSRM in Sacramento was the Mattole Lumber #1 formerly owned and operated by Henry Sorenson of McKinleyville, CA. He was an early steam preservationist and restored many locomotives up along the north coast. This locomotive is rarely seen and even more than that it hasn't been steamed in 7 years. I spent many an hour on this old wood burner and it was a blast!



The grand finale for the day was a re-enactment of the "Driving of the Golden Spike" ala Marie E. and Mattole Lumber standing in for UP 119 and CP "Jupiter" We spotted the loco's on the apex of the curve and nosed them in. John Lasseter had a copy of the original photo of the "Great Event" from May 10, 1869, and we all just gathered around and watched while Curtis Ferrington snapped off shots with a dozen or so cameras. Thanks to Al DiPaolo for sending me a copy that he reversed and made black and white. If your looking for "Grumps" he's up on the "Mattole" trying to get the cinders out of his eyes.


John Lasseter owner of the Marie E. shakes the hand of Al DiPaolo of the CSRM and caretaker of the Mattole Lumber #1.

Well that's all for now. A big thanks to Mojave Mike & Phil Reader for the pictures. You can view Mike's photo album here

For more info on the Hillcrest & Wahtoke, you can go here


Grumps - Out

Catching up...

Well I survived another camp this year. While overall full time attendance was down about 200 or so, weekends, especially the last one swelled to nearly 12,000 people.
For those of you who may not be aware, I am the facilities manager for the Seventh-day Adventist Conference Grounds in Santa Cruz County. The nearly 100 acres that I live and work on becomes its own little city for two weeks each year in July. Here is a picture from an advertisement showing an overhead shot taken from an airplane.



We have 500+ RV sites, 400 tents that we pitch each year (14X14), 70 guest cabins that sleep up to 280 persons, and an 18 room guest dormitory. Yep its big alright!

After camp finished and we got most of it packed away and picked up alot of the trash, it was time to head south and play choo choo at Karl Hovanitz' Bitter Creek & Western Railroad in Arroyo Grande. Each year Karl hosts a large meet for live steam locomotives of the narrow gauge persuasion.

This year I had the chance to double head with one of my old locomotives that is now owned by Roger Frimeyer of Bakersfield. We dubbed this event "Hackfest 2008" as both locomotives have Hackworth Valve Gear.



More pictures from the Narrow Gauge Meet can be seen here...

Saturday Night was spent over at the Pacific Coast Railroad running the #1 Caroline and a small freight for the attendees.

Here is yours truly oiling around.


Phil Reader, the CMO has really gone the extra mile to make this engine steam and operate better, and it was evident each time I pulled the throttle. She is quite a performer.

I will post some video of the runs we took as soon as I can get them off the camera. So stay tuned...

The "Stang"

My nephew is in 7th Heaven with the delivery of his 1966 Mustang just in time for graduation. The car turned out really nice and I am pleased with the outcome. Take care of her Gregg!